During the past year we have continued to examine the possible role of immune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of cutaneous lupus lesions. We have published or have in press several papers demonntrating: (1) the positive relationship of the lupus band to the presence of antibodies against native and single stranded DNA; (2) the specificity of antibodies against the cytoplasmic macromolecule termed RO for SLE. We have detected weak in vitro blast transformation of peripheral lymphocytes from SLE and DLE patients against various forms of DNA. We suspect that the examination of lymphocytes taken from cutaneous lupus lesions will demonstrate even more striking stimulation. We therefore have designed techniques to evaluate this possibility.